During Comic Con ’09, Del Ray Manga a division of Random House announced they will be releasing a Manga based on M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender. No release date has been announced yet. Dave Roman will be writing it and Nina Matsumoto will be creating prequel art.
Coupled with news of a new toy line just last week based off The Last Airbender, this gives Avatar fans even more to look forward too.
According to toy industry news website, Playthings, Spin Master has been named the worldwide master toy licensee for Paramount Pictures’ The Last Airbender. Using “innovative technology that will enable fans to live out their most memorable moments from this epic film,” Spin Master will produce a comprehensive line of products including action figures, vehicles, and playsets.
Adam Beder, Spin Master’s vice president of licensing, had this to say about film and the deal.
“M. Night Shyamalan and Paramount have done an incredible job of adapting the mythology of Avatar…into an imaginative and visually stunning live-action big-screen fantasy adventure film. It’s a natural fit for us to re-create the magic of the film into an original and creative new toy line that children will love.”
After numerous email requests, comments, and late night phone calls, we’ve decided to launch an official twitter account for LastAirbenderFilm.com. Any time news is posted, a corresponding update will show up on our twitter page. Thanks again for all your support and suggestions.
Via Examiner.com, a new promotional image has surfaced, featuring our first glimpse at Katara waterbending. Thanks to kek for bringing it to our attention.
Update
The image has been removed at the request of Paramount Pictures.
Headshots of Katara and Sokka have shown up online at Der Herr der Elemente, an Avatar fansite, along with two new headshots of Aang and Zuko.
Update
The images have been removed at the request of Paramount Pictures.
We’ve got a new article featuring another set visit, this time focusing more attention to the CGI and movie magic of the The Last Airbender.
On a private tour with other select journos, VFXWorld initially spoke to Marshall, who explained the scope of the ambitious film.
“We are creating a completely fantastical, make-believe world,” Marshall said referencing the cavernous converted sound stage that was home to more than five huge sets representing key sites within the four nations. All of them were impressively practical while also including the telltale green-screen drapes and vfx set extension markers that portend the vast amount of CG work to come.
Marshall continued, “A couple of firsts on this film for Night: One is shooting all this green-screen. He’s never really done much of that before…at all. He’s expanding his talent and range and that’s what I find exciting about it. He’s taking his filmmaking style and applying it to this fantasy world, which he hasn’t done before.
“And for me it’s been really exciting because I haven’t worked on a movie, that I can remember, that has a totally made up world. We get into a little bit of fantasy in Jurassic Park and Back to the Future, but they are still in the real world. But this is like our Star Wars.
You can read the rest of the article at VFXworld.com
